When I was a kid, my family would spend weeks at a time in the summer camping at Craigleith Provincial Park. The Blue Mountains wasn’t a town yet and the resort was but a sliver of what it has now become. I have memories of my brother and I spending hours looking for fossils on the beaches of shale and near death experiences on the original “Great Slide Ride”.

We decided to spend Canada Day long weekend in the park. There is an airshow in Thornbury, fireworks at the ski hill and some very interesting open water to explore in the kayak. We parked the trailer in it’s spot, and I prepared for the first paddle of the weekend. Getting my gear and kayak to the beach wasn’t easy inside the park. There is no boat dock and the beach is shale. To complicate matters, there there were dumping waves and the water levels were high. I had to launch from what used to be a footpath to the beachfront. There are a few better launch options if you don’t mind driving up the coast a bit.

From the top of Blue Mountain, one of the most visible landmarks that you can see is a large island with a lighthouse. It is an absolutely spectacular view and all winter long I dreamed about what that island must be like up close. I was about to find out in some choppy, challenging conditions.

I decided to handrail the coast from the park to Lighthouse Point and then make an open crossing, from there I would circumnavigate Nottawasaga Island.

My first thought of this trip was, the scenery is pretty good, it’s not as good as I’d expected but boy oh boy is this bay ever exposed. The swell was in the .7m range but they weren’t breaking, so it was a fun ride.

As I approached Collingwood, the large grain silo started to appear in the horizon and the Island became easier to assess. I decided to paddle directly into the wind and make the crossing as sheltered by the island as possible.

The water was quite bumpy, so getting pictures was more of a challenge than usual. I was lucky enough to time my crossing with the ferry that brings birders to the island to explore. The island was beautiful, the sheer number of birds was unbelievable, and the smell was enough to knock you over. The water near the islands is much shallower, so as I got closer, the waves began to break. It became a challenge to manage the give and take between scenery and ever growing conditions.

Once I made it to the top (north end) of the island, I noticed a large shoal. The waves were large and dumping hard over what I would consider to be a reef break. That setting with the backdrop of the Niagara Escarpment and the lighthouse was enough for me to stop to take it all in. This is what it is all about. Working your ass off and being rewarded with this view made the entire trip worth it, after taking a water break and getting some pictures it was time to head back to camp.

The views on the way back were more dramatic. Seeing the escarpment from the bay is beautiful. In all, the trip was about 20 km round trip in some very open, exposed water.

On the second day, I decided to launch from the same spot and head the other direction. There was an airshow going on and there is the mouth of the Beaver River to explore. Again, the view on the paddle out was nice but not great. The real draw is the paddle back.

After watching the show for a bit, I decided to explore the Beaver River. It is extremely scenic but you can’t make it very far before you hit a dam.

My favourite part of the trip was the views of the escarpment on the way back to camp. Seeing the hill without snow is really interesting. I thought the ski hill cuts would take away from it, but it was still really nice.

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This trip would require a minimum of level 2 or higher skills depending on the conditions.